Stenehjem rules NDSU can accept sex education grant money

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has ruled that North Dakota State University can legally accept a three-year federal grant to conduct comprehensive sex education.

Two NDSU faculty members had been awarded a $1.2 million grant to offer voluntary comprehensive sex education to Fargo-area teens ages 15 to 19 with parental consent. But NDSU officials froze the grant in January when attorneys questioned whether the funding would break a state law that forbids using government funding as family planning by any person or group that encourage abortions.

But Stenehjem ruled Thursday that the state law was invalidated by a 1980 district court decision and a 1981 appellate court ruling.

NDUS Chancellor Hamid A. Shirvani says the ruling is good news for the school.

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